Chuck Dips a Little; Rest of NBC Lineup Down

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/09/tv-ratings-chuck-drops-a-touch-two-and-a-half-men-hits-highs-nbc-dead-last/44300

Chuck averaged 6.31million viewers and a 2.3 in the demos. That's down 400k viewers, but only 0.1 in the demo. The demo is all that really matters.

There's some discussion on the boards about what constituted the ratings drop. Some mentioned House returning. Some mentioned CBS comedies, namely Rules of Engagement (RoE) having a better retention rate than Accidentally on Purpose (AoP), and my favorite (not really): blaming the ratings drop on the last two episodes of Chuck.

People keep on forgetting that House was a repeat last week. RoE retaining more of HIMYM could've hurt Chuck, but looking at the ratings it looks to be a non-issue. Chuck is still getting roughly the same pre-RoE debuting.

Regarding last week's episode, that episode was much more well received than 3.07, so I don't buy the argument that people hated the last two episodes equaling ratings drop. 3.07 had a 2.2 demo and 3.09 had a 2.3. If people really hated the episode, it would've dropped below 2.2. So the argument "people hating the last 2 episodes= ratings drop" doesn't hold much water.

The Bachelor was getting demos that DWTS would've got. It's comparable. It's the viewership numbers that are much higher because of the older demographic watching, and that could hurt Chuck. However, I don't see Chuck's ratings moving much either way. It will stay in the 2.3-2.5 range all season.

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NBC has bigger problems than worrying about Chuck. The return of Trauma (1.4 demo) and L&O moving to the 10pm (1.5 demo) cratered in the ratings. what's surprising is that L&O is getting lower ratings compared to its Friday time slot. I attribute that to competition. CSI: Miami pretty much has the same audience with L&O.

CBS and FOX are doing their customary thing, finishing 1 and 2 for the night.







And I just noticed this. Chuck actually has more competition this season, namely from CBS. BBT/HIMYM last year- 3.6, HIMYM/RoE- 3.75 demos. 

The good thing though, Chuck is up compared to the second half of last year, up 0.15 in the demos and 400k viewers. Thanks to snickrz for those numbers.